The Treasury of Stories: Policy Narratives of Anti-Illicit Finance

<p>This dissertation explores how the US government identifies and responds to the problem of illicit finance, specifically, why the US Treasury utilizes certain approaches over others. I employ a comparative case study of three relatively recent, non-traditional approaches in the Treasury’s anti-illicit finance repertoire: targeted financial sanctions (a case of <em>strong</em> policy action), anti-money laundering in real estate (a case of <em>tentative</em> policy action), and the proposed demonetization of high denomination notes (a case of policy <em>in</em>action). While considering a wide range of plausible explanations for this variation in policy action, I argue that the Treasury’s decision to either pursue, postpone or reject a given approach is largely a function of the <em>policy narrative</em> surrounding that approach.</p> <p>I find that the Treasury is more likely to pursue an anti-illicit finance approach when the relevant policy entrepreneurs have successfully invoked the <em>nationalist narrative canon</em> of “American Exceptionalism,” “The American Dream,” and/or “American Civil Religion.” Methodologically, I rely on the recent Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) literature, which emphasizes the importance of narrative elements – setting, plot, characters (i.e., heroes and villains), and moral – in the marketing of policy ideas. The most attractive policy approaches are those that resonate with nationalistic metanarratives and, to the extent possible, cast the villain in the story as foreign and <em>other</em>.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Year

2023

Author dc:creator

• Kemp, Paul Christopher

Contributors dc:contributor

• Rachel Epstein
• Ilene Grabel
• Debbi Avant
• Thomas Nail

• Illicit finance
• United States Treasury
• Sanctions
• Money laundering
• Demonetization
• Narrative
• Metanarrative
• American Politics
• Economic Policy
• International Relations
• Political Science
• Social and Behavioral Sciences

Statement dc:rights

• <p>Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.</p>

Language dc:language

English (eng)

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/2296

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.du.edu:etd-3286